1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to fabrics in general and to generally planar fabrics having a plurality of solid colored stripes in particular.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A widely-used fabric for casual living furniture and accessories is an open-mesh material woven from synthetic yarn, usually utilizing a plain weave. In fabrics woven from these types of yarns, it is often desirable to improve styling by utilizing a number of colors or patterns including solid colored stripes. Stripe effects can be introduced into the fabric by alternating groups of warp and filling yarns. Although there will be one solid stripe, the other stripe, assuming two colors are used, will be of a checkerboard or two-color nature. Various techniques have been employed to produce fabrics having individually colored stripes; however, each of these techniques has certain drawbacks which produce unacceptable results, both in terms of fabric appearance and cost of fabric production.
The most common techniques for enhancing the presentation of solid colored stripes on a fabric are based upon variously using more warp yarns per inch than filling yarns, and using filling yarns which have a significantly smaller diameter than the warp yarns. Although each of these methods has enhanced the appearance of the stripe appearing on the fabric, the checkerboard still detracts from the overall appearance of the fabric. In addition, fabrics produced in accordance with these techniques do not have uniform strength and stability.
Other techniques which employ the use of warp direction floats, such as when using a satin weave, have improved stripe appearance, but the fabrics produced still suffer from strength and stability problems.
The use of small diameter yarns for both warp and filling yarns has been tried with moderate success. While the illusion of solid colored stripes is increased, the checkerboard effect is still dominant. In addition, use of the small diameter yarns greatly increases the cost of producing the fabric.
The most successful method of producing multicolor stripes, from the standpoint of overall fabric appearance, has been the use of a post-weave printing operation, in which the stripe pattern is actually printed onto the woven fabric. This method has, as its major drawback, the tremendous increase in the cost of fabric production necessitated by the printing operation.